Erwin - A Quantum Puzzle

Erwin is a 2048-like sliding merge puzzle played on the surface of a 3D cube, with spatial audio and holographic depth effects. It is available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and requires iOS 26, iPadOS 26, or macOS 26. Play long enough and quantum effects begin to appear: some tiles are in superposition, alternating between two values, some entangled and move together, and some even teleport.

What's on the screen

The game shows a 3D cube - similar to a Rubik's Cube - floating in front of a dark background like a hologram. Each of its six faces is a four-by-four grid. Tiles sit in the grid's cells, marked with colors and different shapes indicating their value.

How to play

Swipe If you’re familiar with the classics, Threes! or 2048, you already know the basics. You’ll just have to start thinking in more dimensions. Tiles can slide across the active, front-facing side of the cube. Merge Matching tiles merge into one, and after each move, new tiles appear in random empty cells. Tile values start at 2 and double with each merge: 4, 8, 16, and 32. Each merge adds the new tile’s value to your score. The highest valued tiles don’t merge, and the cube slowly fills up. The game ends when the cube is full and no more moves are possible. The goal is to reach the highest score you can. Rotate The game board isn’t flat: it’s a cube that can turn, and with a swipe on the empty space around it, the cube reveals its other sides. The tiles along the edges and corners belong to more than one side at once, and can move on any side they touch. After a few games, you’ll start planning around the corners.

Privacy

Ad-free, tracking-free, so you can enjoy your game without interruptions. Decidedly minimalist - what is absent (load screen, analytics, nagging in-app purchases, notifications, etc) is as intentional as what is present: "a thousand no's" to protect the experience against the dark patterns of the attention economy.

I've built Erwin entirely with Apple's native frameworks, which means no third-party SDK baggage, the app size is less than 50 MB.

Accessibility

You can play Erwin with VoiceOver. The game also supports Voice Control, Reduced Motion, and Dynamic Type; tiles are distinguished by shape in addition to color; there is no time pressure and the game can be paused at any time; and on iPhone it is designed for one-handed play.

Features

Co-op multiplayer via Game Center - play together with friends or auto-matched players, take turns on a shared cube and watch each other's moves in real time.

Game controller support - play with any supported extended gamepad (models with with two thumbsticks, a d-pad, and a menu button), with haptic feedback in the grips. Tested with a PlayStation 5 DualSense controller on iPad, iPhone, and Mac, but any two-stick controller in this class is expected to work.

Offline play - a single-player Erwin game requires no internet connection, you can play whether you are on a subway, or over the Atlantic.

Universal purchase with Family sharing - pay once, and play on all your Apple devices forever, with up to five additional family members. You can also try the game before you buy with an App Clip.

Erwin is localized in English, German, French, Italian, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and Ukrainian.